Kyiv, Ukraine –
At least three Ukrainian civilians were killed and nearly 20 others wounded in the latest artillery shelling by the Russian army, Ukrainian officials said Monday.
The eastern region of Donetsk, one of two provinces that make up the industrial heartland of the Donbas country that has been the focus of a Russian offensive, has faced the heaviest bombardment.
Regional officials said at least three people were killed and 13 others wounded by Russian shelling that hit numerous towns and villages in the Donetsk region over the past 24 hours. The shelling has damaged dozens of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.
In Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, five civilians were injured in the latest Russian shelling early Monday, according to the city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov.
Russian forces also attacked several other regions of Ukraine with rockets and artillery.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said on Monday that Russian warplanes have attacked Ukrainian army positions in the southern Kherson region and in the Donetsk region. He added that the Russian air force also hit a facility in the Kharkiv region, killing at least 100 and wounding 50 “mercenaries” from Poland and Germany. His claims could not be independently verified.
Speaking at the opening of an arms exhibition outside Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the military action in Ukraine, declaring that “it is fighting for Russia… and fulfilling all the tasks that were set, liberating Donbas.” Step by Step”.
For its part, the Ukrainian army claimed to have destroyed more than 10 Russian warehouses with ammunition and military equipment in the last week.
In other news on Monday:
— Lawyers for American basketball star Brittney Griner have filed an appeal against her nine-year Russian prison sentence for drug possession, Russian news agencies reported. Griner, a center for the Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was sentenced Aug. 4. She was arrested in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after vaporizer bottles containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage.
— The Ukrainian parliament, Verkhovna Rada, extended martial law and the general mobilization of the country for another 90 days.
“Ukraine has always longed for and yearned for peace and many times in various negotiating formats has offered Russian leaders to end the war and liberate the Ukrainian land from occupation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video on Sunday. the night. “But so far, Russia believes in terror, remains trapped in its propaganda illusions and still hopes that it can supposedly achieve something through various forms of blackmail. It won’t.”
He stressed that “we must defend ourselves,” adding that “the stronger Ukraine is, the weaker Russia is, and therefore the less time this war will last.”
— Zelenskyy dismissed the heads of three regional branches of Ukraine’s main security agency, SBU, in the Kyiv, Lviv and Tarnopil regions. Zelenskyy’s office did not elaborate on the reasons behind the move. Last month, he fired SBU chief Ivan Bakanov and a chief prosecutor, saying his departments had too many people accused of collaborating with the Russians.
In an interview with Singapore’s CNA television, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska said that “no one in the world can take a neutral position in that war,” adding that “you can be on the side of the aggressor or the one who has come “. under attack, there is no other option”.
“People from other countries should know: it is not Ukraine’s fault that prices are rising, it is the aggressor who started the war,” he said.